While wide receiver has been among the Kansas City Chiefs’ significant needs in recent seasons, the emergence of Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy as young building blocks has reduced this need for 2025.

But in the coming NFL Draft, the Chiefs should be looking for skillsets that fill the gaps within their wide receiver group. Rice and Worthy are slot-oriented players who can use underneath targets to create explosive plays; they’re primarily going to win on horizontal routes instead of downfield routes.

To complement them, the team needs an outside receiver who can stretch the field vertically — and win — on the sidelines. This is the role Marquez Valdes-Scantling filled for the Chiefs, so it won’t necessarily be a player available in the draft’s early rounds.

A Day 3 wide receiver who has this kind of skillset is Virginia Tech’s Da’Quan Felton. Here’s what you need to know about him.

Background

Coming out of Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Virginia in 2019, Felton was a zero-star recruit with just one Power-5 offer: Indiana. He committed to Norfolk State, where he was redshirted — and when COVID hit in 2020, his season was canceled. When Felton finally started playing in 2021, he recorded 492 yards — and then 573 yards in 2022, when he was second-team All-MEAC.

Moving on to Virginia Tech, he caught 38 passes for 667 yards and eight touchdowns. But in his final season, he collected just 32 catches, 360 yards and two touchdowns.

The 24-year-old Felton checked into the NFL Scouting Combine at 6 feet 4 and 213 pounds, with 32 1/4-inch arms and 9-inch hands. He ran a respectable 4.5-second 40-yard dash — with a 1.57-second 10-yard split — and at his Pro Day, he improved his vertical jump to 35 inches.

Film evaluation

In Virginia Tech’s offense — a very limited passing scheme with a relatively untalented quarterback — Felton mostly ran downfield routes like Go or Post. And since he was often used as a decoy to clear space, he didn’t get many targets.

On film — where he’s generally isolated as the X receiver, tasked with stretching the field — he shows some ability to separate from defenders. He uses his long legs to build speed, get on top of cornerbacks and give the quarterback a throwing window.

Unfortunately, his quarterback just couldn’t hit that window very often.

While Felton didn’t play underneath very much, he did show some ability to win against zone coverage on quick outs, stop routes or digs over the middle of the field.

Since I’d estimate well over half his routes went downfield, Felton’s biggest weakness is a very limited route tree. While I think some of this can be attributed to the Hokies’ quarterback, he’s still a limited route runner. As a long-legged athlete with stiffness concerns while trying to throttle down, he’s not likely to have an outsized role in the NFL.

How he fits with the Chiefs

If Kansas City acquires Felton, his role would be to stretch the field on vertical routes. The Chiefs would put him on the back side of plays and let him win on the sideline — and with Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball, I believe he would pop more often. He does have legitimate speed — and he does get open downfield. This would free the team to leave the traditional routes to Rice, Worthy and tight end Travis Kelce — while Felton replaces Valdes-Scantling (or Justin Watson) as a downfield route-runner.

The bottom line

Don’t get me wrong: Felton is a limited player. The proof comes from his lack of production. In the NFL, he’ll have one role: as an outside vertical route-runner — where I think he’s underrated. He’s demonstrated he can get open. In a scaled-down role — with a real quarterback throwing to him — I think he could be a useful depth piece who can also play on special teams.